BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-One of the county’s telecommunication company, Telecom Networks of Malawi (TNM) on Tuesday officially announced it is withdrawing its sponsorship of the Super League championships following Completion and Fair Trade Commission (CFTC) ruling that the service provider should stop monopolizing other companies to have a place in the league.
The CFTC verdict came a few weeks Super League of Malawi (Sulom) was about to renew the contract with TNM; the organization argued that clubs should be allowed to enter into agreements with other service providers without any obstructions.
The commission’s ruling stated that the “CFTC established that the sponsorship agreement that TNM signed with Sulom had some clause that were restrictive and potentially prevented Sulom and football teams participating in the Super League from accessing sponsorship from competitors of TNM.”
The ruling did no please the mobile and data service provider saying it however, respects CFTC ruling that other potential sponsors should take part in developing Malawi’s football.
In letter to Sulom and copied to Football Association of Malawi (FAM), signed by TNM’s Chief Executive Offer Douglas Steveson, disclosed that the company has made the decision to fully withdraw from sponsoring the league.
Steveson said that the company respects and abide by the CFTC determination on the matter and said that TNM would not want to be found acting in a manner that has negative effects on the development of Malawi’s football.
He added that Sulom is therefore at liberty to engage those willing to sponsor the flagship for the development of football in Malawi.
“TNM would like to thank SULOM, FAM, all soccer fans, and the company’s loyal subscribers for the opportunity given to grow with the league over the past 10 years.
“We hope that the progress of football had made significantly due to our decade long dedication to the Super League can be leveraged by future sponsors for the good of sport”, Steveson said.
In his reaction, SULOM General Secretary Williams Banda while observing that TNM withdraw is a big blow, he quickly assured the nation of hunting for other sponsors before the season kicks off next month.
TNM invested the equivalent of about MK2.6 billion towards the Super League in the past 10 years in monitory and other investments.